Ernest Rodrigue
April 16, 2007
Antoinette Rodrigue
April 18, 2007
If you notice a little bit of shine on some area baseball diamonds this season, there is good reason for it—two local schools recently received grants to fund lights for their baseball fields.
In February, Terrebonne High School’s Tiger Field was lit up for the first time, and at about 7 p.m., last Wednesday, Central Lafourche High School turned on its new lights for the first time.
Nighttime had not quite fallen yet, but the Trojans finished off the game under the lights, beating Terrebonne 9-7.
The Trojans game started with a ceremonial first pitch thrown by a representative from the Baseball Tomorrow Fund.
Both Central Lafourche and Terrebonne received funds for the lights through grants awarded by the Baseball Tomorrow Fund. Terrebonne received $100,000 while Central Lafourche received $84,837.
With both schools receiving lights, there are now four schools in the Lafourche-Terrebonne area with lighted baseball fields. Thibodaux and Vandebilt Catholic are the only other two schools with lights.
Terrebonne applied for the grant nearly three years ago, and the opportunity for its players to perform under lights came to fruition in a tournament the school hosted in late February.
For Central Lafourche, the grant was awarded last October. The Trojans’ Broussard Field had lights in the past, but Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged the field’s lighting, leaving the Trojans to play home games exclusively during the daytime.
Trojans head coach Scott Duplantis said the completion of the project is a big accomplishment for the school, and local baseball. “The completion of this project marks the realization of a dream for this organization and the community as a whole,” he said. “After losing our lights in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we didn’t think we’d ever be able to play at night again.”
He added that being able to practice under lights helps when traveling to play a night game at another school. “Normally, you play Thibodaux High and have to travel here at six o’clock,” he said. “So you get over here, not having practiced … under them, and you don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how the outfielder’s eyes are going to pick up the ball.
“We get to play against teams that don’t have lights, and they’re going to be in that situation, now. So it’s very beneficial to us.’
Another advantage to playing at night is being able to have parents attend games. Without lights, games typically start at 4 p.m., making it difficult for working parents to make it to the start of a game.
First pitch for a school with a lighted field is typically 6 p.m., allowing working parents to watch the game in its entirety.
For Central Lafourche, Musco Lighting, Inc., provided the field lighting equipment, with a discount. “On behalf of the Baseball Tomorrow Fund and Musco Lighting, Inc., I would like to thank the baseball program at Central Lafourche for its dedication to this project and, more importantly, to the children which it serves,” said Cathy Bradley, executive director of the Baseball Tomorrow Fund. “We are proud to have supported the growth of youth baseball and softball in this community.”
The Baseball Tomorrow Fund describes its purpose as being “designed to promote and enhance the growth of baseball throughout the world, by funding programs, field improvements and equipment purchases to encourage and maintain youth participation in baseball and softball.”
The fund started in 1999, and has since awarded grants of over more than $10 million to nearly 120,000 youth participating in over 200 youth baseball and softball programs.
